NEWS
Malaya the Manta celebrates #WorldMantaDay in style!
This is not how Malaya the manta thought she’d be spending the first-ever World Manta Day. She thought she’d be out and about mixing with the people and celebrating her species with the amazing communities she knows in the Philippines. But, COVID-19 happened, and well, we all know what that brought – social distancing – home offices, but she gets it, and she is happy to play her part to help curb the global pandemic. Anyway, conservation work isn’t just about research and community outreach, it’s about hard work on the computer, fundraising for grants and strategising conservation solutions with partners and stakeholders. Like the rest of the LAMAVE team, she’s been busy working at the office or at home and rocking her mask about town. Her attitude is “wear it for you, wear it for your lola, diba?!”. After all, little things make a huge difference.
Malaya arriving by bike to the LAMAVE office.
Her bike ride to work this morning felt great. It’s the rainy season here in the Philippines but she was lucky that it was only drizzling today and it felt refreshing to feel the raindrops on her skin. Cycling always makes her feel good – it’s environmentally friendly and she feels like she is doing something daily to reduce her carbon footprint.
Saying good morning to our office neighbours may seem like a small step in raising awareness but she loves it when people ask if she is a stingray and she gets to tell that actually, no she is a fabulous manta ray. Not that she’s got anything against her stingray friends it’s just that people need to know that she is the one that flies through the water, filter-feeding microscopic food from the water and dazzling snorkelers and divers with her acrobatic feeding technique and all-round beauty. I mean she is an endangered species after all, so she feels pretty unique and likes people to know that too! I mean who doesn’t?!
Malaya greets the security guard on duty.
Greeting office neighbours and catching up on chismis (gossip). Social distancing and wearing a mask of course.
Luckily, she managed to get a (socially distanced) appointment at the cleaning station yesterday – it was amazing – the wonderful cleaner wrasse picked off all her dead skin and the skin parasites she had on her wingtips. They are such marvellous creatures – she’d be lost without them. Everyone feels like a million dollars after a bit of grooming but for her, it really comes down to health. Without those cleaning sessions, she would not be at her strongest, with dirty wounds and goodness knows how many parasites attached to her body. And anyway, the scenery is just stunning, I mean who wouldn’t choose to be pampered looking out over a coral reef. One of her favourite stations in the Philippines is Manta Bowl in Ticao, Masbate. There are multiple sites to choose from and the cleaner wrasse always deliver.
Malaya at her usual cleaning station in Manta Bowl, Ticao, Masbate last year.
Last year she even got to celebrate how special the site is with the rest of the LAMAVE team and the local community of San Jacinto in Ticao – that was such a great day. The local children even learnt about her life – the importance of the cleaning stations, her love of moving around between different places and her age (a lady never tells, but given the occasion, she thought they should know that she’ll be around for a while to come!).
Anyways back to what today is all about. You can raise awareness, just like Malaya by spreading some love for manta rays by sharing Malaya’s story or posting about manta rays you’ve been lucky enough to encounter.
Have a great World Manta Day!
To find out more how you can protect these animals visit: www.worldmantaday.com
Read more about LAMAVE work on manta rays here: https://www.lamave.org/our-programs/rays
Malaya at the office wishing you all a happy World Manta Day!